Read the entire Editorial: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-foia-0127-jm-20130127,0,4995587.story Nine months ago, the nonprofit For the Good of Illinois asked the Illinois comptroller’s office […]

Recently, we’ve learned about the NSA and IRS Big Data collection of private information. At OpenTheBooks.com, we use technology for government transparency.

Virtually all disclosed federal spending since 2000 and five year salary histories of 2.5 million federal employees are posted. Now, it’s time to post “every dime” taxed and spent at every level of government across America.

We need your help on this project.

In 24 States, we’ve collected and posted online their checkbook spending. Here are some examples:

In Nevada, the Comptroller responded immediately with the checkbook- within three days.

In Texas, the Comptroller delineated the time and costs: two hours of programming work. We happily paid a $104 fee.

Some states like Nebraska charge higher fees- $1,700 for five years.

In Illinois, we had to sue.

In these hyper-partisan times, the IL Republican Comptroller and Democratic Attorney General found “common ground” by rejecting checkbook production as an “undue burden”. Filed seven months ago, our lawsuit has cost $40,000.

At OpenTheBooks.com, we understand this inflection point in history and are serious about government transparency. “Every dime” of government spending needs the aggressive scrutiny of citizens, journals and watchdogs.